Seahawks pre-draft position review: Receiver

We’ll continue our Seahawks pre-draft position reviews with a look at the wide receiver spot.

WIDE RECEIVER

PLAYERS CURRENTLY ON ROSTER

Starters: Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse.

Backups: Ricardo Lockette, Chris Matthews, Douglas McNeil, Paul Richardson, Kevin Norwood, Kevin Smith.

OVERVIEW: Jimmy Graham should probably also be included when assessing the receiving corps as he will likely be the team’s real No. 1 receiver. And if you include Graham, then this has the makings of an improved receiving corps with Baldwin and Kearse now fairly proven commodities —- Baldwin as a slot receiver and Kearse as a complementary No. 3 type. Matthews, based on the Super Bowl, has the potential to be the big receiver of which the team has been searching for years. Richardson began to flash the potential that made him the team’s first pick, in the second round, last season. Lockette had some good moments late in the season (though admittedly missing an opportunity to be the Super Bowl hero) and Norwood also could/should be more of a factor this season. Despite the losses the last two years of Golden Tate and Percy Harvin, there’s still lots of talent here, admittedly buffeted by the trade for Graham, a move that will go a long way toward determining the success of the Seahawks in 2015 and the beyond.

DRAFT NEED (on scale of 1-10): 8. Despite a Graham-infused group that on paper could be as good as any in the Pete Carroll era, you’d still figure the Seahawks to take a receiver of two, especially with this considered an especially good draft for receivers — the consensus is that at least seven receivers could go in the first round.

Richardson is maybe Seattle’s best deep threat, but is coming off an ACL injury and likely won’t be ready for the start of the season, and even when healthy last season looked to still have some growing to do. So another speed receiver would make sense. But so would just adding another receiver or two of any type to bolster a group whose depth was tested at the end of last season.

The Seahawks also simply need to bolster the numbers at this spot heading into training camp. Seattle had as many as 16 receivers in camp in 2013 and has half that at the moment. You’d think they’d get to at least 12 or so by the beginning of camp this year.

POSSIBLE DRAFT FITS: Receiver seemed an obvious need for Seattle last year and people like me spent a lot of time trying to guess who the Seahawks might pick — and I’m not sure anyone came up with the names of Richardson and Norwood. So this is almost surely an exercise in futility trying to figure out who Seattle might draft.

The Seahawks are reported to have had at least five receivers to the VMAC for visits, including Michigan’s Devin Funchess, a 6-4, 232-pounder who also played tight end in college who looms as one of the more intriguing — and also hardest to peg — players in the draft (here’s his NFL.com profile). Funchess is generally regarded as a second- or third-rounder and possibly the second tight end drafted.

Two others reported to have visited Seattle are Stanford’s Ty Montgomery and Washington State’s Vince Mayle. Montgomery (NFL.com profile here) has decent size at 6-foot, 221 pounds and also flashed good return ability at Stanford, if somewhat inconsistent hands (UW fans may remember his drop near the end of a 2012 game at CenturyLink Field that helped key a Washington upset of the Cardinal). Mayle (profile here) was one of the most productive receivers in college football last season with 106 catches and at 6-2, 224 has one of the better combinations of size, speed and production of anyone in the draft.